Connectin within feelings
by silentgazer
Summary: Fukushima Suzu is an outcast living in Kahona, with nothing really to lok forward to in life. That is, until the Sand Sibings, from her own village, come along and bring light to her situation. Set in a parallel Naruto universe, this bends what you know.


Fukushima Suzu had had one of the worst mornings of her entire life, and school hadn't even started yet. First, she had gotten up too early and wasn't ale to get back to sleep until her alarm went off. Then she found out that all her uniforms were dirty and had to do a quick wash at five in the morning. Now she was wearing slightly damp clothes, carrying a school bag with only half of her homework done, and sporting a large scrape up the side of her arm where the biker had nearly hit her. Suzu was short for her age, with cropped blue black hair dyed a dark purple at the tips. Her unsettling grey green eyes were set in her pale face above a fine nose and red lips. Even though she was fresh out of middle school she was only just getting by in her studies. She stopped in front of the same boring sign that wonderfully declared in a mimic of fancy wringing: Kahona School for the Young and rolled her eyes. Young her butt, what other high school would there be? She stalked thought the gate and into the bland brown building, earning glares from some of the other more preppy girls. Her uniform was a deep green, with a short bleated skirt and jacket stamped with her village origin on the right hand pocket. Underneath she wore shorts and a white collar shirt tied with a tan tie. Shoving her books inside of her locker she noticed that there were considerably more girls hanging around her homeroom area. That only meant one thing, and it wasn't good. Taking out her notebooks for her next class, Suzu wove her way into her homeroom for morning announcements. There was the bubbly pink haired girl who never shut up next to a quiet grey eyed one who seemed to not be listening. A few feet away a long haired blonde was talking hurriedly with another girl with brown bulbs for hair on the side of her head. The blonde, Yamanaka Ino gave her a death glare as she sat down in a seat furthest from the rest of the girls. Suzu stared back until Ino looked away, and blew the dark strands of hair from her face. Meanwhile the pink haired girl Haruno Sakura was chatting so loud that her voice pierced Suzu's train of thought.

"Don't you just love it when Uchita-chan decides to come to homeroom Hyuga-chan? I think it adds a bit of sincerity to our room." She said to the girl who merely shrugged.

"I-I like it when U-Uzumaki-san does a-announcements." She stuttered quietly. Sakura gave a disgusted face and began to rant about the blonde haired blunder of the room. Suzu finally turned around, fed up.

"Hey Haruno, if you love Uchita that much why don't; you just marry him already? God knows I could do without him." She said her cool and sweet voice running over everyone until it reached Sakura. Every one of the boys in her class turned to the rebel outcast and stared. Sakura flushed bright red in embarrassment.

"Hey Fukushima," Ino said sourly. "What happened to you today, get run over by a truck or try to use make up to cover up that face?" All the girls except Hinata laughed. Suzu shrugged her shoulders and muttered 'whatever' before turning back to face the chalkboard. It had always been like that, ever since elementary. Kids had always teased her, ridiculed and humiliated her, but somehow, she had always blocked it. It was a wound that only had a long scar on it and never truly got better. Plus, she wasn't supposed to be in this place. She belonged in faraway Sunagakure no Sato with all the rest of her village, not in Kahona with a bunch of stuck up leaf brats. Taking out her sketch book Suzu began to finish what she had started last night.

"Hey Suzu-san, Ino-san didn't really mean that. You look fine." A boy's voice behind her said.

"Thanks Shikamaru-san. But Ino will be Ino." Suzu replied without missing a beat. Shikamaru patted her kindly on the shoulder before returning to his friends. So far he was the only one who even had a humane thing to say to her these days, most likely because he didn't really care what other's thought. Plus he had just about as much motivation as she did. The bell sounded down the hall as she closed her pad and set it on the table before setting her head on it. Suzu could almost feel all the girls in her class screaming inside as a spiky black haired boy walked into their room, deep in conversation with their teacher. He nodded once and looked up at the class. Uchita Sasuke was the most popular boy in their school, and with his model good looks it was hard not for girls to become raving fan girls at the sight of him. But Suzu didn't care, she wouldn't deny that he was quite good looking, but he simply didn't appeal to her in any way. She also didn't want to become another link on the chain of girls in love with him. As Sasuke walked over to find a seat, she noticed all the girls shift over to how off the empty ones next to them. Closing her eyes, Suzu waited for the squeal of delight from the girl he had chosen, but instead her heart sank as she heard the scrape of metal as the chair next to her was pushed out. Now everyone would hate her more. Her eyes flicked up to his cold ones and she inclined her head ever so slightly before tuning her head back to what her homeroom teacher was saying. All the while she waited for Sasuke to stop that annoyingly penetrating glare. Then very slowly, she began to try to take a nap to make up for what she had missed that night.

"….We will have a student joining us from Sunagakure no Sato. I hope you will all make him welcome." Kakashi's voice drifted into her daze. Suzu's head snapped up so fast that Sasuke was forced to scoot back a bit from her as she stared straight ahead. A spiky red haired boy stood at the front of the room in the boy's dark green suit and shirt, only he had a tan tie identical to hers. He had a very cold look in his green blue eyes that were ringed in black to curve up slightly at the end. Suzu felt a chill creep up her spine as he spoke.

"I am Gaara. I hope to have a good year here." He said nonchalantly. Suzu could tell that his heart weren't in the words; he was just saying them out of politeness.

"Would anyone like to show Gaara around?" Kakashi asked, looking around at the non enthusiastic students.

"I can." Suzu found herself saying. Quickly she shut her mouth as his eyes turned on her. Even now she could feel the rest of the class' eyes boring a hole in her back, and man did it hurt.

"Ah! Arigato Fukushima-san. I hoped that you would be able to; it is good to have two birds of a feather together. Now, on to today's lesson…" Kakashi replied after pointing Gaara to a seat. Suzu opened her notebook and tried to ignore everything else except the lesson. Kakashi was their first period weapons history teacher, and he was really good at it except for the fact that he got sidetracked a little too often. Kagami was in the middle of taking notes on the Sobu Zukuri, a sword she was not familiar with, when a folded piece of paper dropped into her lap.

'If you and Gaara are birds of a feather, we all have to be careful not to catch the disease of freaks.'

Suzu read it once before crushing it into a ball and setting it on her desk, her face unchanged. It hurt, but she was used to it. They were only words anyway and couldn't do anything besides sit there and be just that, words.

She tapped her pencil on the last line of notes and sighed, blowing pieces of hair away from her forehead. Today had to be one of the worst days ever. Not only had she single handedly gotten on all of the class' bad tempers she had also inadvertently gotten a weird boy to follow her around all day, which was the last thing she needed. Slowly and deliberately, Suzu began to slide herself a little further away from Sasuke, feeling uncomfortable. Why was Emo boy suddenly acknowledging her existence when he had never even looked her way in the nearly ten years they had had spent together in school? She shook her head under his gaze and went back to writing. When the bell rang minutes later, it was like a breath of fresh air from Sasuke's strangely red eyes. He opened his mouth to say something as she gathered her things, but instead was mobbed by fangirls in the rush from the room.

"Fukushima-san!" she heard Kakashi call when she was at the doorframe. Her eyes widened, how could she forget?"

"Hai Sensei, gomenasai, I almost forgot." She said smiling and rubbing her head. Kakashi shook his head as she bowed.

"Have all the teachers sign this. And _don't_ forget to get him his textbooks Fukushima-san." He said wearily.

"Hai Sensei." Suzu answered dutifully. "I have English Studies next Gaara-san but I need to pick up my books. Do you mind?" Gaara shook his head and followed Suzu out and into the hallway. Her smile disappeared as she changed her books into frustration. Neither of them said much as they passed down the hallways filled with buzzing students.

"Can I ask why you came here Gaara-san?" Suzu inquired quietly.

"My siblings." He replied in the same soft voice, filled with menace.

"Oh." Suzu replied shortly. Obviously he didn't want to pursue the matter further. But he surprised her by asking a question of his own.

"Why are you here?" his intimidating tone voiced. Suzu flinched slightly at the question.

"After my parent's died my aunt and uncle took me up. They're trainers in Kahona."

"Interesting." He responded. She glanced up at his dark ringed eyes, noticing for the first time the red scar above his left one.

"Love." She whispered to herself. 'But why would he cut that into his forehead? It must have hurt.' She figured she'd been staring too long because he began to glare at her. She quickly looked away and was hit with a spitball on her arm. Suzu's eyes flicked to Naruto sitting in perfect range of her as she entered the room. Deftly she moved her thumb and forefinger in a circular motion, calling the dust on the floor to her hand. Then she discreetly flicked the hardened dirt at him and his friends, dividing it into three as she did. Suzu turned her back to him as they sounded with a satisfying thwack in a very tender place. She couldn't help but smile slightly as one of them whimpered in pain.

"Fukushima Suzu!" Her teacher's shocked voice sounded from behind her. She looked up and shrugged.

"At least my aim is better than it used to be." She replied handing the adult a piece of paper to sign. Lady Tsunade sighed but said nothing else as she waved the two children along. Suzu was grateful that she was one of the few teachers that didn't require introductions of new students.

The rest of the day was pretty much the same for her and Gaara. She took him to each class and introduced him to the teachers with only a few mishaps along the way. By the time lunch care around, she was so bored that she could have sworn she fell asleep more than once. The bell clanged and she and Gaara exited the Geography and Law classroom to put their things away. A crowd of girls filled the hallway and Suzu had to fight her way through the mass just to get a few feet in. When she turned around however, Gaara was nowhere to be seen. Figuring he was stuck, she shoved her books back into her locker and bravely made her way back into the crowd. All the sudden the wave of girls surged forward, knocking Suzu to the ground.

"Watch it!" she yelled to the retreating backs. Her only reply was a few dark looks and flicks of hair. A small hand reached out to help her up as she rubbed her head. Ignoring it she stood up and brushed off her uniform.

"Fukushima-san, are you alright?" Hinata's quiet voice asked. Suzu nodded.

"What's going on Hyuga-san?" she asked, figuring Gaara could fend on his own for awhile.

"The Valentines Dance," Hinata replied, pointing at a banner. "It's in two days.""Ah," Suzu said as if it explained everything. "So that was Uchita-san." Hinata nodded. Suzu yawned, flicking her multicolored hair as she did so.

"I'm going to lunch, see ya." She said. Hinata looked behind her and saw Sakura heading her way as Suzu left.

"What'd she want?" Sakura asked snootily. Hinata only shook her head and let her friend drag her away towards the steadily growing mass. Suzu walked down the seemingly empty hallway to the lunch room. As she entered and got her tray she noticed that there was one other girl besides herself there, and she was sitting next to Gaara. He looked up as she made her way to the back table in the corner.


End file.
